High School Coaches ????

Back when I played, if you were 16-18 and didn't play Legion ball, you were pretty much out of luck for the summer. So, I don't necessarily think that it's such a bad thing that kids have so many more options these days. After all, the more kids playing, the better.

I'm not so sure that Legion ball is "crippled". We played only 1 team this summer that could be called "bad" in any sense of the word, and that's mainly because they draw from only one school, not because of losing their top players to showcase/club teams. I'm sure that some areas are being hit harder than others by showcase teams and whatnot, but there aren't many pushovers found in Legion in this area.

Are the showcase teams in this area really THAT good? Could they ride over to Cherryville and expect to win easily (if at all)? Or Pineville? Charlotte? Caldwell? Hickory? The best of the best are in Fayetteville right now. Would one of the club teams win it if they went? I'm mainly asking because I really don't know, but I'd find it hard to imagine them being better than any of the teams there, except for the host team.

You'll get no argument from me about where the exposure is, or about why colleges prefer the tournaments and showcases to Legion games for recruiting. That nail has been hit on the head more than once in this thread alone. Here's my thing about exposure: if you're good enough to warrant being drafted, or signed to a major DI college, if you're THAT good, it's going to find you. If you're worried about exposure, however, it's probably because you haven't done anything so far to warrant that exposure. Take some initiative: get on the phone, call coaches, set up workouts, go to tryouts, go to camps at colleges you want to go to, etc. Don't trust just being on the club team or Legion team to get yourself seen. Also, exposure alone isn't going to get you signed to a DI school. There is NO shame in DII ball or community college ball. UNCC is a pretty good baseball school, and I like to see them succeed, but I'm not sure they would win the Peach Belt, and there are a lot of DI schools that wouldn't.

 

As I have been reading this thread I keep noticing the same statement popping up: "if you are good enough then it doesnt matter where you play." And while I do agree with this I only have one problem with it that seems to have been overlooked. Maybe these club teams are the reason these kids are good enough to play DI. The teams, for the most part, arent just a group of people playing in showcases. There is instruction that goes along with all of the money that you pay. I can honestly say that I have gotten much better due to the teams that I've played for (charlotte express, and now on deck o's). And I also find it interesting that out of the top charlotte prospects last year, I dont know of any that were recruited from their local rec. teams.
We already said that insruction on h.s. teams and legion teams is limited due to the high number of kids and low amounts of practice time. Therefore where is the kid supposed to get better? In legion you play for a month and a half or so and then your season is over. And there is virtually no practice time due to the demanding schedual. Everyone knows that you dont get better playing in games, thats when your supposed to apply what you've learned. You learn and improve during practice. So if a kid is playing at the level where he can be drfted when he is 15-16 then sure i agree, there is no reason to pay money to play club ball. But I dont know of many of those kids around here.
Also, the h.s. team I play for (olympic) didn't make the state tournament last year. The legion team I am assigned to play for (steele creek) finished second to last, meaning their season ended about a month ago. Since then I have played in two showcase tournaments. So if I'm out playing or practicing everyday with my team, while those legion kids are sitting at home with their season over, then you tell me who is going to end up as a better player in the end. And that is why you will see all of you top local players coming out of these club team organizations. Where did Rob Woodard come from. Or daniel bard, ben kerr, matt hill, tyler white, rob wilson? All of them just graduated as the top players in the city, and all of them came off of the same club team. Go figure.

 

Our kids play approx. 45 games in the summer and it costs them $200. We play a lot of home games but also take them to a few weekend tournaments. The $200 also covers their travel. You don't have to "play for" the "high dollar" travel teams, all you have to do is just "play them", to get exposure. When all those scouts show up to watch them, they also get to see our kids too. Have gotten a lot a scholarship dollars the past few years this way.

 

WaddellWaddell.......Like your post!

 

exactly on exposure.

however, your peach belt statement is ludicrous. C-USA had 5 teams in the top 25 this year at different times (ecu, tulane, southern miss, houston, and tcu) and Charlotte was 11-15 in conference. I think you are out on a limb here saying major D1 teams would not dominate a DII conference. I doubt the Peach belt champs could go 11-15 in CUSA.

 

The truth about exposure....

Except for a select very few programs (read miniscule), the rosters of most D1 college teams aren't composed of super-studs ... the so-called "can't miss, the scouts will find you" type of players. They have their "super studs", but they also have a group of players that would be deemed "very good H.S. players". There are more "very good H.S. players" than there are available slots.

You get these roster spots (forget scholarships ... lets just talk roster spots) the following ways.

#1. Exposure. They gotta know about you and what makes you different from Joe Blow down the road.

#2. Your skills meet out of their needs. You can be a very good H.S. third baseman, but if the college you want to go to is stacked at that position, either look somewhere else or change your goals.

#3. Grades ...... This should be #1. Great grades brings in academic money, which saves athletic scholarship money (and there is only 11.7 scholarships to split up). H.S. players with great grades are more likely to remain academically eligible to play (d'oh -- kinda obvious, you can't help a program if you can't get on the field).

The early signing period will be dominated by pitchers/catchers. After that, there are a few "studs" who will get signed early. The vast majority of the positions and a lot of the pitching staffs are signed later. You don't have to hit 90 in H.S. to pitch in college. You have to be able to get hitters out.

If you look at the signings from this spring/summer, there are some very good ball players that were picked up. They differentiated themselves by Exposure/Effort/Grades.

 

...and I might add, all of them are represented by Braves Advisory Inc.

 

and WELL DESERVED I might add with his new client service company "Grades Are Us", his personal tutoring was instrumental for all these lads.

 

And may I add that Braves EVEN conducts a "grooming class"! yes sir.....He teaches each player how to shave their head with a Z or a W emblazoned on the side! That's how you REALLY know they are a product of Grades Are Us!